Equalizing means



May 12, 1925. 1,537,246

E. J. MADDEN EQUALI Z I NG MEANS Filed Oct. 8, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 7 INVENTOR.

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May 12, 1925. 1,537,246

E. J. MADDEN EQUALI Z ING MEANS Fi ed 8 23 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

I N VEN TOR.

3 Sheets-Sheet 5 E. J. MADDEN EQUALIZING MEANS Filed Oct. 8, 1923 Patented May 12, 1925.

EDWARD J. MADDEN, or DETROIT, mcmeAN.

EQUALIZING MEANS.

Application filed October 8,1923. Serial No. 667,191..

To all whom it ma concern: I

Be it known that EDWARD J. MADDEN, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Detroit, in the county'of Wayne and State of. Michigan, have invented a new and Im roved Equalizin Means, of which the fol owing is a speci cation.

This invention relates to means for dividing the force exerted upon one mechanical element among a plurality of other elements in any desired proportions, and particularly for transferring a force exerted along'the'line of a rod to a plurality of other rods so that all will exert substantially equal forces throughout the distances they may travel whether these distances are equal or unequal, and its object is to provide a device of this character which will operate with a minimum of friction and in which the exerted force will always be divided in a predetermined manner irrespective of the distances traveled by the actuated elements,

- and to produce a device of this character which will not readily break down or get out of order.

This invention consists in a group of cylinders connected by proper passages and a fluid therein, pistons in said cylinders, means connecting the pistons to the elements to be actuated, and means to exert force on the group of pistons as a unit so as to place the fluid therein under pressure to thereby exert pressure on the pistons.

It further consists in the details of construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the claims.

tion of the crank arms on one side of this support. Fig. 5 is a plan of this mechanism, the upper half of the upper cylinders being broken away for the sake of clearness. Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views. WVhile this mechanism is exerted on the brake pedal of an automobile to the brake rods of the four brakes of a four-wheel-brake mechanism for such veespecially adapted to divide and transfer the force hicle, it is not limited thereto but may be employed wherever such force is to be di-,

vided into any desired number of parts and transferred to machine elements of any desired character.

I have shown the frame of this mechanism to embody two side plates 1 connected by cross plates 2, 3 and 4, whose ends 5 are bent at right angles so they may be attached to the side plates by rivets 6. A pedestal 7 on the bar 2 supports a pin 8 on which the sleeve 9.is slidable. The opposite end of this sleeve is shown to carry a cross pin 10 which connects it to a'connecting rod 12 whose opposite end connects to the lever 13 by means of a pin 14. The lever may be the brake pedal of an automobile and is shown mounted on a shaft 15 carried by a small pedestal 16 secured on a cross bar 17.

I have shown four cylinders 20 of equal diameters, connected by the heads 21 and 22, and these heads are so drawn against the ends of the cylinders by means of the collar 23 and nuts 24 on the sleeve 9 that leakage is prevented. The head 21 is formed with passages 25 whereby the adjacent ends of the cylinders are connected to permit any desired fluid therein to flowfreely between each cylinder and each of the others. It is therefore apparent. that when a pull is exerted on the connectin rod 12 and sleeve 9 by the lever 13, this torce is resolved into pressure of the cylinder head 21 upon the fluid within the cylinders and is divided among the pistons 26 within these cylinders according to their areas, whether the cylinders and their pistons are of the same diameter or not.

The head 22 is preferably formed with guide bosses 27 for the piston rods 28 and with vent-holes 29 to permit free flow of air at the inner ends of the cylinders. While the pistons may be of any desired construction, I prefer to use leather disks 30 having flanges 32, washers 33, springs 34 to push out the flanges 32, and follower plates 35 to press the springs 34 outward. The fluid in the cylinders is preferably oil which remains mobile at low temperatures.

A pair of posts 37 extend between the cross bars 3 and 4, being connected thereto by screws 38, and the bosses 39 thereon serve as bearings for the shafts 40, 41, 42 and 43. The crank arms 45, 46, 47 and 48 are attached to the inner ends of these shafts respectively, and each crank arm connects to one of the piston rods by means of the links 49 and pins 50 and 51. The lower piston rods preferably connect to the crank arms and 46 on the upper shafts and the upper piston rods to the crank arms 47 and 48 on the lower shafts to reduce the angular movement of these crank arms and links 49 to, a minimum. I also prefer to attach bosses 53 to the outer sides of the plates 1 to serve as bearings for the shafts 40, 41, 42 and 43.

On the outer ends of these shafts are mounted the crank arms 54, 55,56 and 57 which extend at any desired angle and carry pins 58 in their outer ends to which the connecting rods 59 (Fig. 4) are attached. If the crank arms 45, 46, 47 and 48 are of equal length and the crank arms 54, 55, 56

and 57 are also of equal length, the force exerted by these last named crank arms on the connecting rods 59 will vary with the diameters of the cylinders 20, being equal 'when these diametersare equal, and this is substantially true irrespective of the direction in which these connecting rods extend so lon as they are in planes substantially at rig t angles'to the shafts 4143 and substantially at right angles to the crank arms 5457.

It will be understood that if an one ormore of the pistons is prevented from moving' beyond a certain point or entirely, that the pressure thereon per unit area will be the same as on each of the other cylinders, and that thisstopping of any piston will J have no effect upon any other plston.

The details and roportions of these various parts may al be changed by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention asset forth in the following claims.

I claim 1. An equalizing means comprising a seriesof cylinders having intercommunicating passages, movable means to support said cylinders, a fluid in said cylinders adapted to flow freely between said cylinders, pistons in said cylinders adapted to be moved independently through varying distances by said fluid when said cylinders are moved as a unit in one direction, and means to transmit movement from each piston to a machine element independent of the other pistons.

2.v An equalizingl means comprising a group of cylinders aving intercommunicatmg passages, means to support said cylinders, means to slide said cylinders longitudinally on said support, a fluid in said cylinders adapted to flow freely between each cylinder and each of the others, a piston in each cylinder adapted to be moved by said fluid when under pressure when said cylinders are moved in one direction, and means to transmit movement from each of said pistons to a machine element.

3. An equalizing means comprising a group of cylinders having intercommunicating assages, means to move said group longitudinally of the cylinders, a fluid in said cylinders, istons in said cylinders, a frame to slidab y support said cylinders, a shaft for each cylinder mounted in said frame transversely to the path of said c linders, a crank arm attached to each s aft, and means connecting each crank arm to one of said pistons to transmit the force of said pistons to said shafts. v

4. An equalizing means. comprising a group of cylinders and common heads for the ends thereof, one of said heads having passages connecting each cylinder with each of the others, a central sleeve connecting to said heads, a pin on which said sleeve is slidable, means connected to said sleeve to apply force thereto to slide the sleeve and cylinders on said pin, a piston in each cylinder, a fluid filling the spaces between the pistons and the head containing said passages, and force transmitting devices connecting to said pistons.

5. An equalizing means comprising a se-' EDWARD J. MADDEN. 

